Dr. Amy Johnson's research focuses on the relationship between mental health and culture. Her work investigates how the cultural context influences mental health experiences and decision-making as well as how mental health operates as a framework for understanding self and others. Her current book project uses computational text analysis of newspapers and Reddit to explore understandings of mental health and illness over the last several decades. Some of her other projects involve analyses of mental health outcomes like psychological distress and suicide, mapping mental health-related 911 calls, and interviews with young adults about their gender beliefs.
Amy Johnson
Assistant Professor
610-758-3550
amj423@lehigh.edu
Williams Hall Room 205
Education:
PhD, Stanford University, 2023
MA, Stanford University, 2019
BA, Wellesley College, 2017
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Research Areas
Additional Interests
- Mental Health
- Medical Sociology
- Culture
- Social Demography
- Computational Text Analysis
Research Statement
Biography
Amy Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Health, Medicine, and Society. She received her PhD in Sociology from Stanford University and her BA in Sociology and Spanish from Wellesley College. Her research and teaching interests include health and mental health, cultural change, social media, gender, and quantitative and computational methods.
Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications
Johnson, Amy L. 2024. “Psychotic White Men and Bipolar Black Women? Racialized and Gendered Implications of Mental Health Terminology.” Social Science & Medicine. 352:117015.
Johnson, Amy L., Christopher Levesque, Neil A. Lewis, Jr., and Asad L. Asad. 2024. “Deportation Threat Predicts Latino US Citizens and Noncitizens’ Psychological Distress, 2011-2018.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 121(9):e2306554121.
Carian, Emily K. and Amy L. Johnson. 2022. “The Agency Myth: Persistence in Individual Explanations for Gender Inequality.” Social Problems. 69(1):123-42.
Johnson, Amy L. and Rebecca Gleit. 2022. “Teaching for a Data-Driven Future: Intentionally Building Foundational Computing Skills.” Teaching Sociology. 50(1):49-61.
Johnson, Amy L. 2021. “Changes in Mental Health and Treatment, 1997-2017.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 62(1):53-68.
Teaching
SOC/HMS 090 How Did Opioids Become an Epidemic?
SOC/HMS 160 Medicine and Society
SOC/HMS 191 Sociology of Mental Health
SOC 221 Research Methods and Data Analysis